Brake beam



Feb. 17, 1948. ,c. R. MoLlNE BRAKE BEAM Filed April 7, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 he, qw Qm./% e "m, nz n. el .r NN UO.

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C. R. MOLINE Feb. 17, 194s.

BRAKE BEAM Filed April 7, 1945 2 sheets-sheet 2 This construction of brake beam, in all the allowable variations exercised by a variety of pro- L-ducers, has two outstanding faults, both of which ...result invery serious damage: First, the tension Patented Feb. 17, 1948 BRAKE BEAM Carl R. Moline, vHomewood, Ill., assigner to American Steel Foundries, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of New Jersey Application April?, 1945, Serial No. 587,098

Claims. (Cl. 18S-228) A brake beam is the immediate supporting structure for the two brake heads and two brake shoes vacting upon a given pair of wheels of a "railway car truck. In freight service, the practically universal type is of truss construction con- `sisting primarily of tension and compression members fastened at the ends and separated at (the middle by a strut or fulcrum to which the truck brake lever is attached. As a matter of practical construction, it is now conventional to make each brake head include a sleeve portion which telescopes over the corresponding end of the compression member and also the tension member, and thereby forms the immediate fastening between the adjacent ends of the compression and tension members.

The 4A, A. R. Standard No. 15 Brake Beam '(Car Builders Cyclopedia, 1943, page 1000, Manual, pages E848'7) includes a compression member formed of a 3"x1}2" channel,

510; fig", on the brake beam center, and the tension member is UAW-diameter rod equipped at each end with 11A" standard hexagonal nuts, 7 threads ber puts the entire truss structure of the beam under appropriate tension to secure rigidity A,and prevent rattling. After the assembly is made, the ends o f the tension member'are riveted yVariations in the structural members, their size, `etc., are shown in the Car Builders Cyclopedia, 1943, page 995, and in the Manual, page members break at the thread close to the nut at one end or the other. Such a break immediately releases the fastening for that end of the beam structure, permits the compression member to recover partially or wholly from the bending above described, and frees the brake head with `Such a break makes it possib-le for the brake Abeam acceleration to throw the brake head laterall y withy such violence as todo serious damage {al-train Q11 an adjacent track. AIt alsopermits the parts of the brake beam to strike the track at the rail, vat the crossing, or at the switches. doing serious damage, and by some sort of maneuver vdiflicult Vto explain parts of the brake beam are `sometimes found wrapped around the axle.

Second, it not infrequently happens that a brake shoe is lostoif the brake head. At the next brake application, the brake head is brought against Vthe Wheel. This need only be repeated a few times in order to ruin the brake head,

which must be then replaced before the brake.

beam can be put back into service. With the construction conforming to A. A. R. Standard No. 15, above vreferred to, this means that the tension membermust be cut away in order to get off the injuredv brake head, and a new tension member must besupplied with a new brake head. This makes the repair vvery costly,

The principal object of this invention is to overcome these and many other faults in the present-day conventional freight car brake beam, and, generally speaking, this is accomplished by eliminating entirely the threaded ends of the tension member and the use of cooperating nuts held in place by riveting over the ends of the tension member.

The preferred way of accomplishing this is part having an integral upset head which is engaged with one of the brake heads and the brake beam strut, while the compression member is held in a fixture that bends it to the extent of the required camber, or alittle bit more; and, upon release, the rebound or spring-back of the compression member serves to fasten the parts together and hold them under the desired tension.

In the accompanying drawing showing the preferred embodiment- Figi is a plan view of the finished brake beam; Fig. 2 is an elevation of the brake beam strut, the compression member being shown in section;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the tension members; j

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4--4 of Fig. 1;

. Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view of little more than one-half of the brake beam structure in the sembly; and- Fig. 7 isan enlarged detail of the socket at the end of the brake beam strut where the inner ends of the tension members are made fast.

But these drawings and the corresponding, specic description are used for the purpose of disclosure only and are not intended to impose unnecessary limitations on the claims, for it is realized that the fundamentals of this invention may be embodied ina great -variety of forms without departing fromits spirit.

The compression member is shown at I0, the tension members at II, the strut at I2, and theV brake heads at I3.

The compression member I9 is illustrated as of channel shape, but may take any other form,

a variety of which are shwri in the Car vBuild-A ers Cyclopedia, 1943, at page 995.

Instead of a bent rod forming va unitary tension member with two threaded nuts at its ends,

there are two tension members of the general,r4

,SfIhe brakeY heads I3, right and left, are conventional with one exception made necessary by the heads I5 on theinner ends of the tension members. Each brake headv includes a sleeve portion I6 adapted to slip over and receive the corresponding .end of compression member IIJ, and providing a seat ITI against which the end surface rests. Inclined to thissleeve portion and extending inpart through. it is another sleeve portion L8 for the tensionmernber II; and in ordertopermit the head I5 to pass through this sleeveportion I8, it is providedwith lateral extensions orpasages I9 which give the interior of thesleeve aform that will be called keyhole shaped. AThis sleeve I8 is at right angles to a wall 29, which forms the seat of the outer head I4., of; each -tensionmember .and corresponds to .the 'seat for the. conventional hexagonal nut in the,A.A. R.standard construction. Each head isalso Yprovided, with a formation generally indicated by 2l` to receiveand make the brake shoes ast.,. Of course, some will prefer to make the actual brake head separate from the sleeve portions which serve to unite the adjacent ends of thev compressionandtension members, but this illustration is following conventional lines, and .therefore .the brake headl is made in one with those sleeve portions. Y y

, Thestrut y.I2 is .conventional in the seat 22 for receiving, .the intermediate por-tion of the com- 'pression` member II), .the brake lever passage 23, Vand the openings 24 tor the brake lever fulcrum at what will become the tension end. However, instead of a fork .or transverse passage, as is conventional, the strut is provided with an enlarged casing 25 formed by top and bottom walls '25,. inclined, side walls 21, inclined end walls 28, anda base wall 29 forming a part of the strut proper.

. v, Clrhefvvalls Z'Iare at right angles to the tension rnembers II and are provided with keyhole slots M,3,01 :(Fg. V2) adapted to. admit the inner headed ends I5' of the tension members II. These keyghele ,SlQtS hay@ @Resigns 31| corresponding t0V .venientlya littlemore camber.

4 extensions I9 of the tubes in the brake heads. At right angles to these extensions 3l and on the inner sides of the walls 21 there are seats 32 formed as depressions between ridges or lugs 33, which cooperate with the lugs I5 to secure the tension members against rotation when the brake beamhas been assembled.

In assembling this brake beamthe compression member, the strut, and the vbral'ni heads are brought together in the usual relationship, and this sub-assembly is put into the xture or jig equipped with suitable means for bending the compression member to give it the desired camber required of the particular beam and, con- The tension members are then put in nal position and the bendingpressure on the compression member is released. The tension members may be inserted to approximately the position shown in Fig. 5 as a preliminary to the bending operation which latter will serve to align the inner endof each of the Vtension members with thecorrespondlng keyhole slot 30 i-n the tension end of-thebrake beam strut, or the bending operation canb Iperjformed rst and afterwards the' tension members inserted through the brake, heads and-into the sockets atI the tension end of thelstrlit. Fr want of a better term, the joint between the tension end of the strut and the tension members will be called a bayonet joint.

By giving the compression member a little eri cess bending, the inner ends `of the tension members will be brought inwardly far enough to permit the heads I5 to be rotated to` their nal position opposite the seats 312 (Fig. '7) before releasing the bending stress, and when it is released the lugs l5 will seat in those recesses and automatically fasten the tension members against turning.

As an extra precaution and vtoA meet the personal desires of some, an additional .fastening means-such as a pin 33-may be inserted through one or both walls 25 of the casing at the tension end of the strut and into or through the adjacent end of the tension member. As here shown, the pins 33 are shown' passing through both walls 26, and the inner end of the tensionmember II in line with the lugs I5, but that is a matter of selection and really a matter of design for the engineer to suit the convenience ofY production without resulting in a weakness at the connection.

Any proper design of the construction' here disclosed will eliminate all weaknesses such s are now formed in conventional brake beams by threading the ends of the tension members afn`d peening over their extreme portions that project beyond the conventional hexagonal mits.-V

When a brake head is to be replaced, it will only be necessary to put the compression -n'iember under s. 1in-,1e bending stress when tii'pin S3, if present, can be removed and the tension member rotated degrees and then withdrawn. After emplacing a; new brake head, the opration will be rever-sed.

I Claim:

l. In a brake beam, a compression member, a brake head on eachA end of the brake beam engagingA an end of the compression member', each of said brake heads having a wall with an opening, a brake beam strut havingA one end secured to the center of the: compression member and having at its other end two 'wallse'ach provided with through each facing pair of openings to connect said strut with said brake heads, respectively, each end of each of said tension members having an integral enlargement thereon to prevent retraction of the tension member through the corresponding opening, at least one of the openings of each of said pairs of openings being non-v circular and the adjacent enlargement on the corresponding tension member being non-circular and dimensioned to enter the non-circular opening at one rotary position of the tension member and to engage the Wall around the opening at another rotary position of the tension member whereby with exure of the compression member the tension member may be assembled by insertion through the non-circular opening and subsequent rotation.

2. A brake beam as claimed in claim 1, in .E

it and having on its interior surface a seat for holding the non-circular enlargement of a tension member after insertion through the slot and rotation.

5. A brake beam strut comprising a seat at one end for a compression member and having at its opposite end a pair of angularly related inclined walls defining a hollow chamber, each of said walls having a non-circular slot opening through it and having on its interior surface a seat for holding Y the non-circular enlargement of a tension member after insertion through the slot and rotation, said seat including a depressed portion for receiving said enlargement and thereby prevent rotation of the tension member.

CARL R. MOLINE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 951,165 Williams, Jr Mar. 8, 1910 953,784 Harrison Apr. 5, 1910 979,620 Williams, Jr Dec. 27, 1910 1,389,041 Fowler, Jr Aug. 30, 1921 2,059,255 Gallagher Nov. 3, 1936 2,239,186 Anderson Apr. 22, 1941 

